Location: Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Sav: We decided to be ever so slightly less lazy today and leave the hostel… although we didn’t make it very far before stopping since we passed by ICELAB (ice cream calories don’t count on vacation) and just had to have another scoop for our walk to Kuta Beach. The sun was beating down at 32 degrees, the wind was blowing, and the garbage was in even bigger piles in the sand than last time. I found a relatively clean lounge chair section where you pay by the hour (not sketchy at all) and laid down my towel. Despite the wind and the incoming rain Max’s enthusiasm was not at all diminished since today he was determined to check something off his to-do list!

Max: Surfing! It’s been a little while since I’ve surfed, but I was excited to get on some waves. The same guy who rented us our chair and beach space had a stack of boards, so I picked one out and rushed into the water. The waves were a bit choppy, but I got up on my first try and made it all the way to shore! My next 20 attempts were terrible, but I’m pretty sure I saw Sav laughing from the beach, so it was worth it. I got a few more good waves in and before I knew it, my time was up. I’m definitely going to try and get out there again while we’re here. What a blast! We didn’t want to rent more time, so we packed up, bought a $3 Bintang lemon raddler (they are so dangerously tasty), and walked back towards home.

Sav: I can’t swim very strongly so I’ll be picking more fair-weathered days for my own surfing attempts. However watching Max alternate between surfing quite successfully, and totally biffing it was completely worth staying on the beach. We were both burning (despite slathering on so much sunscreen) so we huddled in the shade of the hostel pool for the last bits of daylight. The cheap dinner specials downstairs sounded amazing (truthfully we decided on that because there was no walking involved), so we plopped in some chairs and play tested a game Max is designing for a couple of hours. An early night after all that sun is definitely in store!

Sav